I was recently asked "What do you recommend for high pressure setting with a TPMS?"
The person said after driving about 50 miles in 92°F weather he was seeing 148°F on his right front and the left front went to 136°F on his Class A RV. His tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) has a setting of 158°F for high temp. He wants to know; At what tire temperature should he be concerned when driving?
A couple of quick points.
If the TPMS is one of those that screws onto the end of the valve, then it is reading lower than the hottest part of the tire. If he has extension hose on the dual then the temp reading is even lower. I have tried to find a TPMS manufacturer that has data on the temperature difference but so far either they do not answer my email or they haven't bothered to do a test.
My information indicates that a properly loaded and inflated Class-A tire will probably see 140°F to 170°F operating temperature and these temperatures are OK as the tire is designed for this temperature range.
If you have actual side to side weight and know you are not overloaded, you may see temperatures in the 140 - 170°F range. If you see higher then I would be a bit concerned and want to know why.
Setting your TPMS Max warning temp to 158°F sounds reasonable to me.
Any info on how tire age affects temps? I have blown two inside duals on my class a. The last one was a 10 year old tire. As to the first one, I am not sure.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen any data to indicate any meaningful difference in heat generation of old vs new rubber.
ReplyDeleteI would think it possible that the inner dual runs a bit hotter than the outdise dual due to shielding from airflow but on the otherhand the inner tire is shielded from direct sunlight.
Side issue. When your inner tire "blew" what did you do about the outer tire? Did the tire that lost air have all it's air right up to the instant it "blew", or was their a slow leak?
Any time you loose air in one dual you are overloading the other tire and potentially doing serious internal structural damage.
I have read reports of the 2nd dual failing days to weeks after it's mate suffered a puncture.
I was told that the best way to test temp. on tires is to buy a infared temp gun from Harbor Freight (about $25) and you can point it at the tire side wall and get a more accurate temp reading than with the TPMS. I really think the TPMS are great for letting you know if you have a slow leak such as a screw or nail. Temp will be a product of the pressure going down.
ReplyDeleteCheck out this post for the answer
Deletehttp://www.rvtiresafety.com/2012/05/what-do-you-think-about-temperature.html